It was as fast as lightning, coming down with terrifying accuracy.
“MEAT!” a woman shouted.
A dogkin woman with wild eyes and sunken cheeks had seen her. She lunged with a speed that made Kitsara’s tiny rat body shudder from head to toe.
“FOOD!”
<Oh my Goddess, no!> Kitsara yelped, bolting left as the woman slammed her hand into the dirt where she’d been a second earlier. <I am not lunch but Lady Kitsara the Beautiful!>
The woman gave chase on all fours like an unhinged predator, but she wasn’t fast enough because Kitsara made perfect use of the pen’s overcrowded nature: she slipped under a foot, bounced off a curled tail, and leapt into a gap beneath a feeding trough to hide.
From the safety of her cover, she peered out, scanning once more, and suddenly, her breath hitched.
There.
Sitting against the far wall, protecting a younger girl with her arms, was a tall, brown-haired dogkin. Her posture was weary, but she radiated a quiet strength even in filth.
Nestled into her side, clutching the edge of her rags like it was her last bastion of defense, was a red-haired woman with bright eyes dulled by exhaustion.
(Picture)
Despite their differing hair colors, both had Blossom’s crystal blue eyes, making her even more certain.
<Found them! Blossom… they’re here. Natalie and Poppy. I’m confident I have eyes on them.>
Silence answered for a moment.
And then, a trembling breath.
<Thank you…>
Kitsara sighed softly and curled her rat body tighter beneath the trough.
She waited until the lionkin guards passed outside the cell again, then silently slipped from beneath the trough. Her little rat body twitched with anticipation as she scurried into a corner cloaked in shadow. There, with the pen walls blocking the line of sight and the slumped backs of other dogkin shielding her, she shifted.
A shimmer of mana coursed over her.
The rat’s body stretched, twisted, and expanded. In a few moments’ time, a small dogkin girl stood where the rodent once was. She looked to be no older than six, with big, dewy amber eyes, tangled dark hair, and muddy feet. Her expression was wide-eyed and innocent, and her tiny frame trembled more than enough to inspire sympathy.
“Time to weaponize adorableness,” she muttered under her breath, then blinked up at the nearest woman with teary eyes. “E-Excuse me…”
The woman barely registered her, but that was fine. Kitsara was already moving, weaving gently through the crowd until she reached them.
Natalie and Poppy.
She stood just a few paces away, staring silently.
Then she moved.
With hesitant steps and a convincing sniffle, she shuffled forward and wrapped her arms around Natalie’s waist, nuzzling against her chest like a lost pup seeking warmth.
Natalie flinched as her head turned down slowly, exhaustion making her movements sluggish. But her eyes sharpened instantly at the sight of the child clinging to her registered in her brain.
“Oh, sweetheart…” she whispered, pulling Kitsara gently into her arms. “Are you alright? Where’s your mommy? Is she… asleep?”
Her voice was hoarse yet soft. Warm. Like fresh blankets in winter. Like the kind of mom who still tried to smile even when everything was falling apart so that those around her could feel at least an iota of confidence and hope toward a brighter tomorrow.
Knowing this wasn’t the time for make-believe, Kitsara reached up to touch Natalie’s cheeks with both tiny hands and looked her square in the eye.
“Listen well,” she said in a voice far too calm and mature for her current form. “I’m Blossom’s friend. She sent me. She’s just outside this disgusting ranch, but she couldn’t come any closer.”
The change in tone was so sharp that it sent a jolt through both Natalie and Poppy.
They gasped in unison.
But before either could speak, Kitsara reached up and clapped her tiny hands over both their mouths.
“No sound,” she said quickly. “Please. If they even think something’s wrong, this whole place will light up like a festival pyre.”
The two women stared at her, then slowly nodded.
Kitsara let go.
Poppy tilted her head, sniffing at the air. Natalie did the same, her brow furrowed.
“I… can’t smell her,” Natalie murmured with a trembling voice that was on the brink of crying. “If she’s here, why can’t I-“
“Blossom always had a freaky good nose,” Poppy countered. “That airhead probably exchanged some brain cells for stronger nostrils… She could smell us from a mile away, but the inverse never worked. It’s her thing.”
“Be nice to your little sister, young lady! Don’t even dare insinuate such a thing. She’s just a unique girl with unique talents.” The mother in Natalie was quickly surfacing.
“That’s why she talks in the third person like a-?”
“Now’s not the time for this family drama, damn it!” Kitsara hissed, making the pair wince as they caught themselves.
“Sorry!”
“She wanted to come in herself,” Kitsara said quietly once the pair calmed themselves, “but the place is laced with detection artifacts. One wrong move and this entire block would’ve gone into alarm. But don’t worry. The two of us didn’t come alone.”
Natalie blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean her man—and mine, too, by the by—is a true ‘BS-tier’ wizard,” Kitsara smirked. “He’s opening a portal. Right. Behind. You.”
“Her man?!” Poppy and Natalie yelped in sync, but they didn’t have time to dwell on the revelation. “Portal? What’s that?” Poppy asked.
But before either could say anything else, the space behind them shimmered.
A magical hum filled the air as the wall of the pen quivered, and a sliver of violet-black energy carved itself into existence, folding open like a curtain. It was small, just enough for one person to crawl through, but the mana pouring off it was undeniable.
It wasn’t just powerful.
It was precise.
Controlled.
Natalie’s lips trembled. Poppy’s eyes widened like saucers.
Kitsara’s voice softened.
“You’re going through. Both of you. No hesitation, no second thoughts. We can’t risk the lionkin seeing this. Move. Now.”
They both looked at each other. Then to the scary, unnatural thing called a ‘portal.’
Then back to her.
And nodded with uncertainty in their eyes, but trust in their hearts.
They turned.
And crawled in.